Ballwin residents can now grab a bite and pick up locally sourced produce, meat, dairy, eggs and more at Local Chef Kitchen at 15270 Manchester Road. As Sauce reported in January, chef-owner Rob Uyemura announced he planned to add a restaurant and market component to his Local Chef CSA, which opened the first week of March.
The 30-seat, counter-service restaurant features a meat-and-three-style menu with Midwest focus. Dishes like Salisbury meatballs, a bone-in grilled ham chop or Mayfair kale salad are reminiscent of dishes your grandma made, but with a professional touch. Customers can also build their own salads or sandwiches for a smaller meal.
Uyemura and sous chef Patrick Hartman are taking a nose-to-tail approach to Local Chef, butchering animals in-house and utilizing each part. This results in a frequently rotating menu; recent offerings included proteins like cornmeal-dusted catfish or a sweet potato-kale vegetable patty and sides like mac and cheese made with a squash puree and brown rice pilaf. On the sweet side, pastry chef Cheryl Herbert bakes a rotating selection of sweet treats like cookies and cakes and pies available by the slice, as well as daily house-baked bread.
When paying for their meals, customers can also pluck local Excel sodas from the cooler, as well as frozen loaves of Herbert’s bread, local eggs, cheese from Marcoot Jersey Creamery and meat from Geisert Farms. Uyemura said he also will add local beer to the cases pending liquor license approval.
Local Chef Kitchen is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Here’s a first look at what to expect at Ballwin’s newest restaurant:
This article appears in March 2016.